THE NEW CLASS

Ballet class becomes a little bit easier with the help of the Ballet Bunnies in this new early chapter-book series.

Millie is delighted when her mother surprises her with ballet lessons for her sixth birthday. But after her first disastrous lesson Millie feels like a failure. That’s when she meets the four tiny, talking Ballet Bunnies who secretly live in the ballet studio. With encouragement from the bunnies and a welcoming new human friend, Millie finds the courage to keep dancing. The linear narration uses a wide vocabulary, suiting this title to strong transitioning readers rather than those still honing their foundational decoding skills. The predictable plot frames Millie’s struggle as a consequence of being a ballet newbie and having to deal with a mean classmate, completely avoiding the ballet teacher’s incompetence as perhaps the main contributor to Millie’s difficulties. The cheery pastel illustrations provide context as the story unfolds, although the characters, human and bunny alike, suffer from a shortage of expression and personality. The concluding glossary lacks a pronunciation guide for the French ballet terms, many of which are not actually used in the narrative text. Millie and her mother are depicted with black hair and light brown skin. The ballet teacher and most of Millie’s classmates have pale skin and various hair colors with the exception of Millie’s new friend, Samira, who has pink hair and light brown skin.

A fluffy, cute early chapter-book series for strong readers.